Brian Cody has no case to answer, your honour!

Fifteen days ago, Ger Loughnane gave an all-encompassing interview to the GAA’s official website. It was April Fool’s Day but there was nothing amiss, at least not in the typical forthrightness of Clare’s two-time All-Ireland winning manager.

Some of his claims about Kilkenny drew ire in the county but do they stack up?

Here we provide the “case for” and “case against” Loughnane’s remarks.

GL: “Looking at Kilkenny now and their personnel, there is no way that Kilkenny should be winning the All-Ireland. There is no way this Kilkenny team should be going for three-in-a-row. Three-in-a-rows were so hard to get before Brian Cody came along. And teams that won three-in-a-rows were legendary teams. Now the present Kilkenny team is functional beyond belief, and they’re getting the best out of what they have to an extent that no-one else could do other than Brian Cody. But, at the same time, a team with that talent should not be winning an All-Ireland.”

Case for:

Even the keenest hurling observers in Kilkenny would admit they didn’t expect their team to be so good since the mass retirement of winter 2014. It turned out to be a rallying call for the remainder but it’s obvious their pool isn’t at deep than it was before. But it was almost loaves and fishes last year. Would Kilkenny otherwise have picked Michael Fennelly without him having done any training or rely on patching up Richie Hogan before last year’s All-Ireland final?

Case against:

The Kilkenny conveyor belt may not be producing as much as it did but it keeps rolling and leaders develop. They may be feeling the breath of other teams on their neck more often than before yet they remain the best. In players like Robert Lennon and Diarmuid Cody, the future is bright.

GL:

“Totally dependent on TJ Reid, one forward, and maybe Richie Hogan as well.”

Case for:

Reid was responsible for four of Kilkenny’s nine championship goals last year, Hogan for one. Of their 9-93 SHC total, the pair contributed 5-48, almost 53% of the total. Accepted, 1-23 of Reid’s total came from placed balls but his hurler of the year accolade was down to his general play and assists as his scores. Hogan means enough to the cause that he was sent to Dublin ahead of the team last September for intensive rehab.

Case against:

Walter Walsh and Colin Fennelly may not be setting the world alight but they have been two of the big performers in this year’s league campaign. Like Eoin Larkin, they are the miners of the attack; Reid and Hogan the smelters. Both Reid and Hogan are more than capable of winning their own ball but the platform given to them by their fellow forwards can’t be dismissed lightly.

GL:

“The danger, of course, is that the longer they go on the harder it will be to beat them. Will Mick Fennelly come back even if it’s only for a few games? Eoin Larkin will be back again. The longer they go on, the bit more difficult they’ll be to beat. I think if they’re not stopped in an All-Ireland quarter-final or semi-final, then they won’t be stopped on the first Sunday in September.”

Case for:

Admittedly, there is still an element of the walking wounded about Kilkenny this year. Michael Fennelly and Hogan have picked up injuries similar to those that upset their preparations last year but when Kilkenny only need to perform on four occasions such setbacks can be negotiated.

Case against:

This theory that the best time to catch Kilkenny is at All-Ireland quarter or semi-final time needs to be debunked once and for all. Kilkenny haven’t lost an All-Ireland semi-final since 2005 and only Galway have beaten them at that stage. Since then, they’ve lost one quarter-final and one final. A team that doesn’t have the experience of All-Ireland final day will suffer facing Kilkenny but as things stand Galway, Tipperary, Clare and possibly Cork would have no qualms about facing them at any point of the championship.

GL:

“You can’t put in words the greatness of Cody. But how you can even begin to start to measure it is the incredible consistency of performance of his teams over the whole era he’s been in charge. How many sub-standard performances did they produce in big games? You wouldn’t need a hand to count them in the 15 years or whatever he’s been in charge.

Case for:

Eddie Keher may have claimed Loughnane could be forced to change his mind about this Kilkenny team later in the year. However, both he and Loughnane at least agreed on how Cody has been able to generate his own personal aura around the county. “When you look at Brian’s attitude, that attitude permeates throughout the county, with club managers, school managers,” said Keher earlier this week.

“It is extraordinary the attitude of young Kilkenny people, and I enjoy looking at the young feels carrying around hurls as if they were part of their uniform.”

Case against:

No questions, your honour.